Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc., wears Orion augmented reality (AR) glasses during the Meta Connect event in Menlo Park, California, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. Meta Platforms Inc. debuted its first pair of augmented reality glasses, devices that show a combined view of the digital and physical worlds, a key step in Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg’s goal of one day offering a hands-free alternative to the smartphone. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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Activist investor ValueAct has a $1 billion stake in Facebook parent Meta, according to people familiar with the matter.
The activist fund’s specific plans could not immediately be learned, but one of the people said that ValueAct CEO Mason Morfit was supportive of Meta’s broader efforts to invest in artificial intelligence.
Meta shares have grown at a rapid clip this year, outperforming the S&P 500 and peer companies. ValueAct has a long history of investing in technology companies, and is generally considered to be more constructivist and collaborative than other activist funds. It signed an information-sharing agreement with Disney, for example, as that company girded up for an activist battle with Nelson Peltz’s Trian Partners.
Meta is the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. It is one of the largest companies to be targeted by an activist investor, with a market cap of nearly $1.5 trillion. Meta was previously targeted by Brad Gerstner’s Altimeter Capital in 2022. There, Gerstner pushed the company to trim down its headcount in a letter titled “Time to Get Fit.”
ValueAct has taken stakes a number of other mega-cap companies, including Salesforce, Disney and Microsoft. Morfit has also pushed for change at other, smaller technology companies, including Salesforce.
Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
— CNBC’s David Faber contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
